Postby Cornacarpio » Tue Jan 03, 2017 1:11 am
Headed out today to where my love of Carping truly began; an eponymous and isolated stretch of water in the dry and sparsely populated Wimmera region.
I took two rods with me today; one sporting the traditional running sinker rig for a spot of 'ledgering' to use the UK vernacular, and one rigged with a tiny bubble float for some sight-casting. As my 'ledgering' rod remained motionless for several minutes, I decided to take a more active approach to my carping adventure and took my rod loaded with a bubble float (and a piece of corn) for a bit of a walk. It wasn't long (or far) - about 20m away - before I spotted a Carp mooching around on the surface. I cast right past it and reeled it in so the corn sat almost on the surface right in front of its nose. It didn't hesitate at all and duly accepted the offering. Despite being only 50 or so centimeters, it gave a great account of itself and I was once again reminded why I love 'carping' so much. It went a bit quiet after that, so I jumped in the car and tried spot no.2.
Same old story - the ledgering rod was suffering from rigour mortis so I decided to try a more active approach. Again, it wasn't long before I spotted another carp (several actually) in a small pool that couldn't have been more than a couple of inches deep. Because of the elevated banks, my only issue was sneaking up on them without spooking them. I remember reading somewhere that carp don't have good eyesight - so I edged closer and closer to the water - if I stay still enough how could the carp possibly distinguish me from an old tree? I thought. I got to the edge and was only metres away from the carp. I got this far, but casting at them in such a small body of water may prove be difficult. The casting action would surely spook them. I got this far without being noticed, I thought what the hell, I'll see how much further I can go without scaring them all off. To my surprise, I managed to climb onto the log above the water, directly above them. I couldn't have been more than 2 feet away from the carp in the water below. But little did they know it, they probably thought I was a dead branch! So I lowered my corn directly into one of the carp's mouth - It barely (if at all) hot the water before the carp took it. I love these country carp I thought to myself, unlike the bread-sniffing ones in Gardners creek who smell your bait, nudge it, breath on it, mouth it - do everything but bloody eat it! Again, a great fight ensued, but it scared all the other carp away in the swim after such a strenuous tussle. Lucky for me, I caught 2 more carp in a similar fashion, both within walking distance of each other.
After that, things got a bit quiet, so I decided to jump in the car again and travel to spot no.3 for the day. This final spot was amazing. In a small rock pool (although still connected to the River proper, or else I could have probably just caught them all with my landing net) that couldn't have been any more than a foot in its deepest part, there must have been about 20-40 Carp swimming around. What's more amazing is that I managed to pull 3 from the exact same spot, without spooking them too much. When they went off the bite a bit, I decided to go home. As I was walking back to the car, I couldn't help but notice about 20 carp mouths protruding out of the water and breathing the air in the water that seemed to be wholly covered by gum leaves. 'Just one more carp before I leave' I thought. Here I had to play the waiting game. I was probably there for about 10 minutes before my float finally submerged. On the end of it, was probably my biggest specimen for the day - a carp I would estimate to be in the 60cm range (left my brag matt at home, grrr).
All in all, I had a great day. I caught 7 Carp in 3 different locations along the river. I usually like to take a Carp 'group photo' of them altogether so as to maintain the veracity of this thread, but I covered a few miles today by both car and foot, and couldn't be bothered lugging around each Carp I caught today from spot to spot, so you'll just have to take my word for it. They were all of a pretty decent (and similar) size (50-60ish cm) and each one of them put up a great fight and kind of rekindled my passion for carp fishing after all the 'micro carp' I've been catching in the urban jungle of late.
+7
2016/17 Total: 21 (Cumulative Total: 1458)
The flame of the sunset lifted from the mountain-tops and dusk came into the valley, and a half-darkness came in among the willows and the sycamores. A big carp rose to the surface of the pool, gulped air, and then sank mysteriously into the dark water again, leaving widening rings on the water. Overhead the leaves whisked again and little puffs of willow cotton blew down and landed on the pool’s surface.
From Steinbeck, J. (1937) Of Mice and Men, Pan Books 1974, Cavaye Place, London, p.15
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Attachments
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- First Carp of the day
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- #2
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- #3
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- This pool was only a few inches deep
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- 3 from the one tiny pool!
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- Last Carp for the day
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- This spot proved to be a winner!
Last edited by
Cornacarpio on Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.